Sermons

In this sermon we focus on understanding Paul’s famous speech to the Athenians and what we can learn from it when sharing the Gospel with our neighbors. If Paul was living in Sydney today what might his speech have sounded like?

This week, we have a bonus follow-up message to the series we finished last week, ‘The Road to Calvary,’ on the ascension of Jesus. The ascension can often be overlooked as just a small detail in the gospel account, but join us as we explore seven reasons why the ascension matters much more than you might realise.

Phillip is the Principal of the RTC in Melbourne. This is the final part of his Fellowship Day 2024 weekend series encouraging the church to dig into the book of Acts to gain a better understanding of what it means to “win people to Christ and be transformed to be more like Jesus.”

We all have a part to play in ensuring the Gospel reaches all tribes and nations. God has given us His authority and power to go out and make disciples, while also encouraging us that we are never alone in this great task.

Part two of a two part series on the Pentecost. The Spirit convicts us of sin, how do we live from there?

Part one of a two part series on the Pentecost. The four points discussed in this first sermon on Acts 2 are: 1. Jesus’ miracles attested that He came from God, 2. God is sovereign and we are responsible, 3. Death could not contain Jesus, and 4. Jesus is Lord and Christ.

A new community based on the forgiveness we receive in believing in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour.

In this final chapter of Acts, we discover that all roads lead to Rome. Paul finally reaches Rome, as God had promised. But the path of Paul’s life to get there was windy at best. Sometimes our lives don’t go the way we might have hoped or planned. But if they are lived as if they are not our own, then we can understand that every road has its purpose for us to know God more and to reach others. Paul again uses every opportunity to share the good news, even in Rome under house arrest. Do you live life as if it’s not your own? Is the gory of God your purpose for living? Do live for yourself or for God? is the gospel the one constant in your life driving all that you do? We see this in Paul and are challenged to do the same. As the book of Acts seems not to have a definite ending, we, therefore, are to take up where Paul and others left off.

Paul is a man who is mission-minded and who lives with a clear gospel focus. At any and every opportunity he seems willing to share Christ. Even when the path of his life seems to waver, he still lives for Jesus. The truth of the gospel that Jesus had lived and died and was resurrected to life changed everything for Paul. As a result, Paul lives life as if it was not his own.

Paul, feeling the conviction of the Holy Spirit, decides that the ending of his third missionary journey would be Jerusalem. Paul went to report back to the Apostles at both the end of his first missionary journey and his second. However, Paul had become a marked man! Everyone could see danger for him and the Christians warned him that this return to Jerusalem would be dangerous for him and that he would end up in chains. Paul said to them that, “They were breaking his heart!” Paul was convicted that this is what God wanted him to do and so he went to Jerusalem. Convictions are really important in the Christian life and so often they have resulted in amazing things for the Gospel.

Paul feeling worn out and afraid of what was coming next is greatly encouraged by the Lord, who renews him through his Word and in many practical ways. For instance God sent Paul’s companions back to him. God spoke to him directly. God assured Paul that he was loved!

What moves you to share the gospel? For Paul in Acts 17, he sees a city full of idols. As in Athens, people today still worship false gods and idols. Consumerism and commerce, the gods of entertainment and sex, as well as success and wealth. So we ask – Who are you worshipping? Christians must worship the one true God alone and must point others, as Paul did, to worship Him. In this godless city, Paul shows believers how we can carefully proclaim the good news of the gospel as we engage unbelievers today.

Remember, that all people are your kind of people. Each person has the capacity to respond to the Gospel because Jesus is always opening hearts. There is no room for any kind of racism in the church of God. There is no cliques, based on race or gender or wealth, status or anything else. We are all recipients of the amazing grace of God who saves even people like you!

As Christians we have personalities, opinions and therefore disagreements in regard to the best way forward and thankfully God uses even these things to promote the glory of his Son.

How does someone become a Christian? How do they ‘get in’ to the family of God, into the kingdom of God? What is it that makes someone a genuine Christain we might ask? Acts 15:1-35 sees this question considered and decided upon. Some Jews believed that circumcision was required along with faith in Jesus. Others said faith alone was enough. the text takes us through the controversy over circumcision, the consideration of the council and finally the centrality of Jesus. This is a pivotal moment in history that could have fractured the church, but instead made a clear statement that we are saved by grace alone through faith. Faith in Jesus alone is required for salvation. But it is not enough to simply get in. If we fully understand the beauty of Jesus in salvation, we will keep him central in our lives every day as we live by faith in him.

In this sermon we look at seven things that we can glean from this chapter that are very instructive for us today. We read about the persistent preaching of God’s Word into the cultures of that day despite persecution and troubles.

Acts 13 takes us on to the first missionary journey by Paul. As Paul delivers a sermon to the Jews we pick up a useful model for what and how we might also share the gospel. We also ask why we do evangelism as we consider the heart of God for mission, the opposition to Mission and see the heart of mission in the gospel. Do we have the same heart for mission as God? Do we love people?

Paul reveals to us what a healthy church looks like. The theme is this, “A healthy church is a church made up of people from all kinds of backgrounds, learning constantly from the Word, with a wonderful outward focus.” The church in Antioch is a real example to us of what a healthy church looks like.

In this chapter, Luke brings out the comparison between Peter and the church with Herod. We see the seemingly powerless church meet divine rescue. To all intents and purposes, the church is powerless in comparison to the might and power of Herod. Yet the church is mighty through prayer. Herod we find to be powerless as he meets divine judgement. In this, God demonstrates his power and assures us that the gospel will advance. We are called to prayer in our own weaknesses and challenged to have our hearts shaped by the gospel.

This text looks at a watershed moment in history that would see the Gospel overcoming prejudice, racial hatred and tradition as Peter, the Apostle’s life is changed for ever as the Holy Spirit is active in the early church.

The passage reveals some remarkable turnarounds! Some truly, ‘I never saw that coming’ moments. People saved and healed. We consider how Jesus is proclaimed by Saul as the Son of God, that Jesus can save even the most unlikely people and finally how Jesus can heal and do what is humanly impossible. All of it showing that because Jesus is alive and active in the world, he is still changing people’s lives and situations in a way that should drive us to prayer and fill us with hope.

If God can convert a person like Saul, then we should feel confident that no-one is able to stand against the power of God. God can change the hardest hearts and he does so through revealing himself to sinners. We can confidently pray for the salvation of our friends and family because God can do anything. He changed our hearts, he changed Saul’s heart, and he can change another’s heart as well. We also face important questions. Are we saved? Paul’s story helps us to understand how God has been working in our lives. There are too many people out there with a false assurance of salvation, people that have not truly had their hearts warmed to the Gospel. Too many people who believe they are Christians but haven’t submitted to the Lordship of Christ!

Acts 8:26-40 stands in contrast to the first part of the chapter from last week. In Samaria, Phillip evangelised ordinary citizens in large crowds. This week he evangelises one Ethiopian palace official. The method and the people were very different, but the result was the same, that they were saved! We are encouraged to remember that God desires all to be saved and will ring people into his church from all tribes, nations and people’s. There are none who are excluded. We must therefore be a church on mission to reach the crowds and the one!

The Gospel was for the whole world, first for the Jews and then for the Gentiles and yet up to this point of time, everyone seemed comfortable in Jerusalem, and it seemed nobody was thinking about the Gentiles, the nations who were lost in their sin. I can’t help but say this is so significant. The Israelites in all their history were to be a kingdom of priests to the nations. Yet, they failed miserably in that. Throughout their history they often became like the nations around them, but they had never brought nations into the family of God! This is all about to change!

Following on from Stephen’s sermon, we see the result, as he is put to death by the Jews. The Jews do not see the error of their ways this leads to Stephen seeing Jesus and finally, we now see the fulfilment of Jesus’ words. The disciples are scattered into Judea and Samaria just as Jesus had said in Acts 1:8. Despite the horror and the evil of Stephen’s death, God uses it for good and for his glory as he fulfils his word.

Stephen’s speech is a watershed moment in the history of the church of God! The word “Watershed” has taken on the meaning of a big change in how people do or think about something. I am only going to look at one aspect of this today. I will concentrate on the Temple rather than he laws of Moses.

After being chosen as one of the seven, Stephen continues to declare the good news. Stephen is a man Submitted to God in every way. As a result, he is Seized and then Slandered. We see how so much depends on eth words that Stephen speaks that are twisted. Despite the opposition and persecution, lives are still changed. People are saved!

The problem with being side-tracked as a Christian is that you can feel pretty good about what you are doing! If you are helping those in the community who are down and out, you can feel that you are doing God’s Work and to some extent you are but if you have no thought to the eternal destiny of people then you have taken the worst path.

A unified church, built on the foundations of apostolic preaching and teaching is a powerful witness in the world. To Satan, The church is a theatre of war. Satan seeks to destroy the harmony of the church. A church, which is full of hypocrites is a church that Satan knows to be ineffective. A church where fellowship, generosity, sharing, are not treasured, is a church that has failed in its calling. Lying is like a cancer that grows in the church.

It is one thing to confess Christ in a Bible Study group, it is another altogether to confess Christ in front of hostile uni-students or in a difficult work environment or even at school. In all these cases your character is tested. Character only comes to the fore under stress.